Today after attending District Conference presided over by a member of the First Quorum of Seventy who is based in Hong Kong, we visited Maternity Hospital II. There are 4 such maternity hospitals in Ulan Bator. We were impressed by the capable and hard working physicians and nurses. There are about 500 deliveries per month at this hospital which is twice the number we have at Sky Ridge Medical Center where I work. However, they do not have a ventilator for premature babies. The Pediatrician told us that she knew of 2 babies this month who died because they do not have a ventilator. We have asked the director to submit a proposal to LDS Humanitarian Services to procure a ventilator for this hospital. Normally, babies earlier than 32 weeks are transported to a referral center here. But there was one 26-weeker who had not been transported out because the tertiary care hospital did not have any beds. Despite their limited equipment, these doctors have some skills that I do not have: while we were there, one of the mom's delivered her baby double footling breech (feet first). In the U.S., these babies are always delivered by C-section due to the risk of complications such as head entrapment (the body comes out but the head gets stuck). Luckily this little baby boy did well! Our team was thrilled to see two beautiful sets of twins as well. Many of the babies were all wrapped up in blankets, and then the little bundles were tied with ribbons!
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